Fire, Water, Wind, and Old Men

“The most frightening dangers come from four sources: fire, water, wind, and old men.”
So goes the ancient Chinese saying, reminding us that decisions leaders make—most of them by old men—often endanger the innocents no matter which side or who started the fight.

Bernard-Henri Levy’s striking essay, Liberate the Palestinians from Hamas , seeks to bring some measure of balance to the raging debate as to who is to blame, who shot first, and the seemingly endless lineup of conflicts between Israel and its neighbors.

Not being able for decades to distinguish between the good dead and the evil dead or, like Camus used to say, between “suspect victims” and “privileged executioners,” I’m also deeply disturbed by the images of the Palestinian children who have been killed.

But have media commentators been fair to Israel? Not so much, according to Levy.

No government in the world, no country other than the vilified Israel–dragged through the mud, demonized–would tolerate having thousands of shells falling on its cities year after year. The most remarkable thing in the affair, the true surprise, is not Israel’s “brutality”; it is, to the letter, its restraint.

But what about the fact that so few Israelis have been killed?

The fact that Hamas’ Qassam and, now, its Grad missiles have caused so few deaths does not prove that they are artisanal, inoffensive, etc., but that the Israelis protect themselves, that they live burrowed in the caves of their buildings, under shelter: a nightmarish existence, suspended, with the sound of sirens and explosions. I have been to Sderot: I know.

And, is Israel purposely targeting civilians?

The fact that, inversely, the Israeli shells create so many victims does not mean, as protesters have angrily proclaimed, that Israel is engaging in a deliberate “massacre,” but that the leaders of Gaza have chosen the opposite attitude and are exposing their populations, relying on the old tactic of the “human shield.” Which means that Hamas, like Hezbollah two years ago, is installing its command centers, its arms stockpiles, its bunkers, in the basements of buildings, of hospitals, of schools, of mosques. Efficient but repugnant.

What about that blockade that is preventing supplies getting into Gaza to aid the civilian victims?

… as for the famous complete blockade imposed on a starving people, who are lacking of everything in this “unprecedented” humanitarian crisis: Again, this is not factually correct. From the beginning of the ground offensive, the humanitarian convoys ceaselessly crossed the Kerem Shalom passage. According to The New York Times, on Dec. 31–in one single day–nearly 100 trucks carrying food supplies and medicine entered the territory. And I invoke, only to preserve the memory of it (for this goes without saying–but perhaps it would be better to actually say it …), the fact that Israeli hospitals continue, even as I write, to accept and care for wounded Palestinians every day.

Levy, as do all of us, hopes the fighting will soon cease.

They [media commentators] will discover, on that day [the fighting ends], that Israel has committed many errors over the course of many years (missed opportunities, a long denial of the Palestinian national demands, unilateralism), but that Palestinians’ worst enemies are the extremist leaders who have never wanted peace, have never wanted a State and never conceived of one for their people other than as an instrument and as a hostage.

Levy’s solution?

From two choices, one. Either Hamas leaders re-establish the truce that they broke, and, while they’re at it, declare null and void a charter founded on the pure rejection of the “Zionist Entity”: In doing so, they will rejoin the vast party for compromise that has not ceased–God be praised–to make progress in the region, and peace will be established. Or they will only, obstinately, consider the suffering of Palestinian civilians in terms of its fueling of their annealed passions, their insane hate, nihilistic, beyond words. And if that is the case, it is not only the Israelis, but the Palestinians, who will need to be liberated from Hamas’ somber shadow.

As for me, I am less interested in playing a blame game. Larry’s story yesterday (“This Will Sicken You”—and I am not including the link if you missed it to give you a chance to decide whether you want to look below the fold) made me reflect on the old men who make the decisions that directly cause such shameful outcomes, and how many guiltless little ones on both sides deserve so much better.